Incumbent Mayor Archibald defeats Briley by 132 votes

Joy Lewis/Reporter-News
Abilene Mayor Norm Archibald is seeking another term and wants to focus on water issues, jobs and the future of Dyess Air Force Base. He is a vice president at Hendrick Health System.

With all of the precincts in, Mayor Norm Archibald held off a strong challenge by Robert Briley and was re-elected by 132 votes.

Archibald was behind going into the final precinct of the night, but the Hillcrest precinct gave him the victory.

The final vote margin was 4,582-4,450

Early voting totals showed a close race.

Those numbers showed Briley with 48.7 percent of the vote with 2,566, 51.3 percent for Archibald with 51.3 percent.

Briley, a city councilman, ran on a platform that it was "time for a change," while Archibald, Abilene's mayor of 10 years, touted his years of experience -- and a variety of unfinished business, including the planned construction of Cedar Ridge Reservoir -- among his reasons to remain mayor.

Archibald wasn't ready to declare victory after the early totals were released.

"It's really close, and we'll just have to wait to see how the rest of the evening goes," he said Saturday.

But he was heartened by the fact that he was, at least from early totals, winning.